Maternal adverse childhood experiences before pregnancy are associated with epigenetic aging changes in their children

Abstract

Emerging research suggests associations of physical and psychosocial stressors with epigenetic aging. Although this work has included early-life exposures, data on maternal exposures and epigenetic aging of their children remain sparse. Using longitudinally collected data from the California, Salinas Valley CHAMACOS study, we examined relationships between maternal Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) reported up to 18 years of life, prior to pregnancy, with eight measures (Horvath, Hannum, SkinBloodClock, Intrinsic, Extrinsic, PhenoAge, GrimAge, and DNAm telomere length) of blood leukocyte epigenetic age acceleration (EAA) in their children at ages 7, 9, and 14 years (N = 238 participants with 483 observations). After adjusting for maternal chronological age at delivery, pregnancy smoking/alcohol use, parity, child gestational age, and estimated leukocyte proportions, higher maternal ACEs were significantly associated with at least a 0.76-year increase in child Horvath and Intrinsic EAA. Higher maternal ACEs were also associated with a 0.04 kb greater DNAm estimate of telomere length of children. Overall, our data suggests that maternal preconception ACEs are associated with biological aging in their offspring in childhood and that preconception ACEs have differential relationships with EAA measures, suggesting different physiologic utilities of EEA measures. Studies are necessary to confirm these findings and to elucidate potential pathways to explain these relationships, which may include intergenerational epigenetic inheritance and persistent physical and social exposomes.

Mother’s childhood adversity is associated with accelerated epigenetic aging in pregnancy and in male newborns

“…This is consistent with other studies that reported maternal ACEs prior to pregnancy were associated with longer telomere length and accelerated epigenetic aging in children several years after birth (at ages, 7, 9, and 14), although whether this was linked to gestational age acceleration was not investigated. 54 Mechanistically, early life adversities are likely embedded early in life and contribute to long-term changes in health behaviors (e.g., diet, smoking, physical activity) and psychosocial responses (i.e., stress response, depression, anxiety). 55,56 Eventually, they can have tremendous downstream physiological effects on the affected individual, such as changes in biological functions like the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and sympathetic nervous system, chronic inflammatory phenotypes, epigenetic alterations, and neural effects, which consequently can lead to pathophysiological states underlying age-related disease susceptibility.…”

Epigenetic clocks and female fertility timeline: A new approach to an old issue?

“…In fact, the growing awareness of the modulation role of nutrients and other food components on DNAm patterns has paved the way for new studies on the relationship between lifestyle interventions and epigenetic aging ( Mathers et al, 2010 ; Horvath et al, 2014 ; Zannas et al, 2015 ; Quach et al, 2017 ; Franzago et al, 2022 ). Intriguingly, folates, a standard supplementation both in the pre-conception period and during early pregnancy, have been recently investigated in the aging field ( Sae-Lee et al, 2018 ; Monasso et al, 2021 ; Nwanaji-Enwerem et al, 2021a ). Chanachai Sae-Lest et al observed that folic acid plus vitamin B12 intake can provide a different effect depending on MTHFR genotype, proving a decreased epigenetic age in women with the more common 677CC genotype ( Sae-Lee et al, 2018 ).…”

Adult Health and Early Life Adversity: Behind the Curtains of Maternal Care Research

“…Since then, aging outcomes have been tied to the epigenetics of early life stress ( Szyf, 2021 ). Moreover, the epigenetics of aging are shown to be altered in the offspring of mothers who themselves experienced childhood trauma ( Nwanaji-Enwerem et al, 2021 ), solidifying a biological basis for transgenerational effects on the aging process. This lifespan approach to understanding maternal care and early life adversity has been validated numerous times and extended to circadian clocks, including the diurnal cortisol rhythm ( Cagampang et al, 2011 ), and systemic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome ( Weaver, 2009 ; Seal and Turner, 2021 ).…”